Hola

Como esta?!

Hello my peeps! What's goin' on??? Not a lot around here, except getting ready for our trip tomorrow... which means, cleaning, laundry, dog baths, mowing (already did this, and yes Daddio, I edged and weed-eated as well... and it looks great), and getting my list put together for what to bring!

While I do that, I thought I would entertain you with the new things we found out that Snookie was saying wrong... it is kind of a game around here, to notice that one the boys has been saying something wrong for who knows how long... laugh, then decide if we are going to correct them (people, sometimes it is just too cute to fix the problem... we will don't worry!).

So here goes:
Bobcat likes to read a book called: Lemonade for Sale!
Snookie's version: Lemolade for sale!

And there is the little track system and marbles (marble game).
Snookie's version: Narble game!

I've explained the narble and marble to him... well, that narble (that I know of) is not a word! But the lemolade... that is just too darn funny, and he is usually yelling it which makes it even funnier.

A Friday Meme for fun!

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nope, my dad had a dream about me while my mom was pregnant for me!

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Father's Day... I was freakin' about Bubba and his schooling.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yep

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Salami

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
3 boys

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Oh sure!

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
All the TIME!

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Nope, and the adnoids are gone too!

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Nope, but skydiving has always been something I would like to do once.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I really DON'T like cereal! I'm not a big breakfast eater in general, it is a forced behavior for me to eat in the morning.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Nah!

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Yep, Daddio says that I'm small but I'm concentrated!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their face.

RED OR PINK?
Pink

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My ovaries

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Fr. Bob

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Kahki shorts and bare foot

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Um, chips last night because I was munchy.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The boys playing in the gameroom.

IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Purple

FAVORITE SMELLS?
A fresh clean house!

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Daddio, I was at the store and forgot the size of air filter we needed for the A/C.

FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
BASKETBALL, baby!!!!

HAIR COLOR?
Brown (of shades)

EYE COLOR?
Green with blue around the oustide... except when I get sad, then they are all blue!

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Yep... until I can get them lasered!

FAVORITE FOOD?
Chicken fried steak, cream gravy and mashed potatoes... or ICE CREAM

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings... I don't like being scared by a movie, I can do that to myself all on my own!

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The Terminal

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Greenish

SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter

HUGS OR KISSES?
Hmmmm, both!

FAVORITE DESSERT?
Hello.... ICE CREAM!!!!

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Five Love Languages of Children

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Daddio holding Daisy (beagle) when she was just a little pup! It is super cute.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
American Chopper... two episodes while Daddio played with his new camera.

FAVORITE SOUND?
NAP TIME... QUIET, and when the boys laugh, it is infectious!

ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
No thanks to either of those...

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Oh, probably when we were cruising on our honeymoon in the Carribean.

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Oh, I don't know if anything I do is all that special.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Lake Charles, La.

New layout

Sorry if your link is missing... I'm still working on getting all the bugs out of the new 3 column layout!

Highlights from last years beach trip!

This is the pop up we bought last year for Daddio and I to sit under... as mentioned in previous posts... super white skin + too much sun = UNPLEASANTNESS

Down on the Jetty!

Playing in the surf! It's amazing what a cheap set of shovels and a boy's imagination can become... in this picture they are killer whales and dolphins.

VACATION!!!!!

WOOHOO, we finally nailed down a date and location for our summer vacation. It had sadly been left in the air if we would even be able to take a real summer trip, due to some uncertainy with Daddio's job (not that he will loose it, but more of how much longer will he be with the company and switching jobs would mean no vacation time right away... that sort of thing).

But with no further stalling.... we will be leaving next week for a 5 days in Port A. Yep, this will be a our 4th year to this beach, we just really like it there. We know the island, the beach is really nice, and it isn't real touristy! We went with another beach house... much like last year... this really is the way to do it! Your own space, no sharing walls, plenty of rooms and beds, full kitchen and laundry... home away from home!

Honestly I just can't wait... while the boys play on the beach I will be lounging under the little pop up cover (cause: I'm super white + cajun + sun = crawfish), reading a book, and taking pictures of my boys playing till fall down exhausted!

Discipline

We have been trying to come up with a motto for our homeschool. We read somewhere that it might be a good idea to name our homeschool. So we came up with a name and designed a crest a few weeks ago (maybe we'll reveal the details on the blog when we've had a chance to finalize the design and figure out a way to draw it up on the computer). The purpose is to formalize our little school, to help define the philosophy of what we are hoping to accomplish, and to entrust our work to a patron saint by naming our school after him. So anyway, we have the crest, the colors, the mascot, and the name. We just need a motto, and one of the comments in the previous post has inspired me!

"Weakness must be conquered through discipline."

We'll translate it into Latin so it looks fancy, of course. And we'll make the boys recite it as they do their daily 5:00 AM calisthenics.

(The commenter is a very close friend of ours, Bubba's godmother actually, so she knows I'm just teasing!)

Salt of the Earth

This is a comment I get tired of hearing from other christian families when it comes to my choice to homeschool (whether directly or from reading what they say about schooling, and why I should send my children to school).

Here is an article that does a great job articulating this idea: Homeschooling and Christian Duty

Check this out:

A child in the grammar stage, a third-grader, say, is developmentally geared toward the acquisition of basic facts, memorizing Bible verses or the Corporal Works of Mercy. Even a bright third-grader lacks the powers of higher reasoning necessary to discern the truth amid conflicting messages.

Middle-schoolers, in the dialectical stage, are ready to learn to
argue—learn to argue. As anyone with a middle-schooler knows, this dovetails
nicely with certain natural inclinations of the age, but the average eighth-grader is hardly prepared to play C.S. Lewis in social studies class.

Even high-schoolers are still in the process of acquiring the rhetorical sophistication they will need in college to defend their faith to others and to themselves. Consider how many college freshmen allow themselves to be talked out of Christianity during the fall semester, in the course of Intro to World Religions. If college freshmen can’t cope, it seems unrealistic to expect third-graders to bear the burden of evangelizing their schools. What seems far more likely is that, to one degree or another, the schools will end up evangelizing these children.

The idea of sending a child daily into a hostile environment—if not actively hostile, as in bullying, then certainly philosophically hostile—expecting him not only to withstand assaults on everything his parents have told him is true but also to transform the entire system by his presence, seems sadly misguided to me. There may be many valid arguments for sending a child to school, but that one doesn’t wash.

Common sense, people! Here is something else she points out in the article that I totally agree with:

If we urge our children to integrate into the secular mainstream, and it turns out instead that the secular mainstream is integrated into them, then what we end up with is, well, what we largely have: a generation that believes that Christianity is only about not being judgmental.

That's not what Christianity is about at all! I, of course have to add this quote... seeings how this has in fact happened:

People often say to me that bringing up children is a thankless job. They intimate that there’s something wrong—saintly, maybe, but wrong—with somebody who chooses to bring up children in the 24/7 style that my husband and I have chosen. While there are plenty of days when I wonder what else I might be doing other than saying “Don’t lick your sister” for the four-hundred-and-seventy-third time, I can’t believe that this project is any more thankless than that of trying to nurture the local public schools.

So you see, it is not my duty or my children's duty to fix the system or be the so called salt!

Totally Cool!!!!

Okay, so I had a freakin' amazing evening in rehearsal tonight...

First... the director actually used a real tuner to tune the group up... now I play flute/piccolo, and was playing first chair this evening (usually second chair, but first part still... for all you band/orchestra nerds out there). He came to me... Bflat... IN TUNE, sweet potato pie, are you kidding me... this never happens right out of the gate for a flute player... rest of the band, NOT IN TUNE.

Next, our line up this evening happened to have several flute solos, ones I don't usually play but tonight - spot light on the Llama... and drum rolll please... NAILED THEM! Seriously people, I was flyin' high.

Then during break time, a friend of mine came over who is a head director of a local high school... and here is what went down:

Clarinet: "Hey Llama, I was wondering what you had planned for next week?"
Me: "Um, not much, why?"
Clarinet: "I was wondering if you wanted to come and help me out with band camp - flute/picc section. It is an all day gig, 10-3 Monday thru Thursday, I'll pay you $400 or so for your time."
Me: (Inside my head- sweet Moses, are you asking me to come and help you, that would be the coolest thing ever, of course I will do it, who cares about the money, seriously awesome) What I actually said: "Wow, thanks for the offer. Let me check and see if I can get a sitter to watch the kids for me... can I call you tomorrow and let you know?"

People, FLATTERED doesn't even beginning to describe how I felt with that sort of offer. I played it cool, though. You would have been proud, I didn't go all high school on him. Ugggg, I just wish I could actually do it... I wish I had a sitter who could follow our routine and could watch the kiddos for me...

Wow, what a fantabulous ending to the day!

freebies

Forgot to mention the other thing that happened today. We scored some free desks. Some school was giving away all their old desks to replace with new ones, so we jumped at that. We'd been pricing desks for a few weeks and trying to work that into the budget. Those things are pretty expensive brand new. I can't imagine they really cost that much to produce. And I'm sure schools get bulk discounts. But we're talking from $75 to $150, for a very basic model. These slightly used ones will do fine. MamaLlama scrubbed them down as only MamaLlama can do. Now we just need to decide where and how to put them in the house. Let's hear it for free stuff!

Weekend update

The fact that MamaLlama hasn't posted today ought to tell you something about the kind of day she had... I'll fill you in, since I'm at home babysitting while she's at band. (Funny how we dads call it "babysitting" when we're required to supervise our own children. Women call it "parenting.")

Anyway, I'll keep it brief. What happened today...

-Bobcat had big fun times with lotion all over the carpet. Again. Seriously, what is that all about? It's okay, this guy has one that smears poop everywhere...
-Snookie peed his pants. Yes, Snookie, who was all potty trained in about three weeks after his second birthday. It's been at least a year since he had an accident. He came into the living room, already wet, and said "I think I need to go potty." Umm, you're a little late there, sharp shooter.

When MamaLlama left for rehearsal, I went outside to do yard work. I left the boys with a movie on, so they'd sit still and behave for a couple hours. Halfway through, I peeked in the window to check on them. Do I really even need to finish this story? You guessed it, they were not exactly sitting still. Instead, they were licking each other. I remember being a little boy myself, and I don't think I was ever quite that weird.

Anyway, let me tell you about Fathers Day. MamaLlama hand-made a lovely card out of her very finest paper and stamps and stuff from her extensive scrapbooking collection. The boys bought me a T-shirt with a hot rod pickup truck with a Texas flag on it. I can't say I would have picked that one out myself, but I love that they thought it was cool and wanted it for me. Also, I slept until 9:00 (that's about 3 hours late for me), woke up to have cinammon rolls, and then for dinner MamaLlama made her famous home made chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy. And peas for the kids. I know, I know, it's a double standard, I set a poor example, but I ain't eating peas on Fathers Day, so deal with it. I also requested carrot cake, but there wasn't time for that due to some other errands that came up in the afternoon. Maybe next weekend? (hint, hint) Instead we had our second favorite dessert, Rice Krispy treats (the boys say "ricepy krispy", it's freakin' adorable). And some of the left over dessert from dinner Saturday night with friends. I am fat and happy. Good night.

It's alright

No need to call out the scent hounds, I am in fact still in one piece from last week. I know, I know... I'm sure you guys were thinking there must have been a mutany, the minions banded together and laid siege on MommaLlama... actually I think they were on the verge of that (I think that is what the whispering was about during naptime), but Daddio returned home from his trip just in the nick of time.

I'm hoping this week goes better... it has to!

Genius

Okay, so I've been thinking about all the trouble we've had around here and I think I have figured out the problem!

WAIT FOR IT....

I must be a MUTE! Except when it comes to food... they seem to understand me when I'm speaking about food.

So now, all I have to do is come up with an entire language based on food so that maybe I can explain the rules of the house and proper behavior for little boys... and they will understand what is expected of them.

SHEER GENIUS!

Let the good times roll... NOPE!

Wow, I was so optimistic with my last post... oh they will go down for bedtime and all will be right with the world... NOPE!

BIG FAT NOPE!

Question for other mom's (especially if children are of the male persuasion), does closing your eyes real tight, sticking fingers in your ears and going lalalalalalallalalallalalallala make things disappear.... or at least make all the world right again????... cause if it does, that is basically the only thing I haven't tried yet and I don't mind looking silly and giving it a whurl!! Is there any other dance or other tantrum throwing fit that a mommy can throw that would work? Seriously, that is the point it has reached around here.

AND THERE IS STILL NO ICE CREAM IN THIS HOUSE... oh the HUMANITY!

Honesty

Looking at the carnival in a previous post, and talking with a dear friend of mine today... reminded me why I started blogging. I needed a place where I could be honest. I needed a place where I could lay open my broken heart with regard to my infertility, and not have to keep up the appearance that everything was going well and I was managing just fine.

While the picture of our family is different now, the reason I keep on blogging is essencially the same... I need a place to be honest. A place where my fears, struggles, and joys don't have to be tempered for those around me.

I feel that this blog is an honest snapshot of my life... the good, the bad, and the sometimes ordinary (if you can call a family full of boys ordinary).

And with that said, I have had two really CRAPPY DAYS! My temper flew south yesterday, and Daddio (over the phone because he is on a business trip) had to talk me off the ledge today. Boy howdie, when it rains it pours around here! I tell you what (cause I'm from the south), the boys must smell some sort of weakness in me... or think they do, because the rules have been out the window for them and the stunts they've pulled, my goodness, had my blood pressure all jacked up. Thankfully with the help of Daddio and my dear friend mentioned above, I was able to turn my back on the problems in the earlier part of the day and have some fun after nap time.

This thing they call parenting, it really tests the limits of a person's sanity! And there is never ice cream in this house when I NEED IT!!!!!

Thankfully, the two hours we played outside in the sprinklers helped with the earlier bedtime for tonigt... hopefully who ever stole my nice boys will return them by morning! If not, I will be conducting a stakeout to figure who is responsible for all this insanity!

Ha ha ha...

I thought this was funny...

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

MommaLlama -- [noun]: A beat poet working the streets 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Why I Blog Carnival

Chilihead is hosting a fun carnival that I decided to join in on!

How did you start blogging?
A soulcyster of mine, InfertilityIsFunny, started one and I was intrigued.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?
Not really. I was hoping that maybe someone out there with the same troubles as me would read it and wouldn't feel alone.

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
This is an outlet for me... so all the crazy doesn't just stay in my head where it likes to multiply. In that regard I consider it to be successful... but the job ain't over :-).

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
Oh yeah! And names! It began as an outlet for my own fertility struggles. It later morphed (and a new name) to our life in the adoption process, and that waiting game. Once the boys came home it became about my life as a mom, an adoptive mom and all the struggles and joys that come with that. As of late it is our journey in to the Catholic Homeschool realm! It is still a place for me to jump up on my soapbox, brag on the kids, rag on the kids :-), talk about wifery and homemaking, and just be myself!

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
Um, I didn't realize how much comfort I would find in reading others blogs!

Do you make money with your blog?
Nope

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Daddio, knows and contributes.
My mom knew about my previous blog, but I don't know if she has worked her way over here.
No other family members know, that I know of!

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
1. Be real.
2. Have fun.

Let me know if you are joining the carnival... I would love to learn more about your journey!

We feel like this sometimes.

We (especially Mommy) feel like this sometimes. They don't look "exactly" like us, but we love them just the same:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/lf/052507catnursespups;_ylt=ArHr1H1Qwyc9I2.pjIwIcl1yWscF

Dinner with Grandparents

Last night my parents invited us out to dinner. It was great, we went to the best little dive in town! What do they serve... you have a choice: fried chicken or chicken fried steak! It comes with salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn and the best biscuits in the world (family style, baby). There isn't a menu, this is what you get! Oh and the chicken when you order it... you get half a chicken (in pieces).

Afterwords, we decided to head down south to the next little town for a tasty helping of frozen custard (that sound you hear is body screaming THANK YOU, you love me, you really really love me!!!!). On the way, my mom rode with the boys and I, and Daddio rode with my dad in their convertable for a little man time. The kids were having a great time entertaining mom with all the latest facts they've learned in our animal study... and probably one of my favorite comments came from Bobcat:

"Maw Maw, I think you should keep Paw Paw home (from work) and homeschool him so he can learn about all the fun stuff that we get to learn about with Mommy."

That's my Bobcat...

Library books

Here are books we picked out to study for coming weeks!

A Tiger Grows Up
Nature's Children: Sea Mammals
Super Swimmers
I Wonder Why Kangaroos Have Pouches
Who's Food Is This?
Animal Dads (In honor of Father's Day next weekend)

And a fun one:
Touchdown Mars

Our Online Photos

Our Three Sons online Photo Album

Girl Hair

After Mass this morning Daddio treated the fam to donuts (we go to 7:30am Mass, and eat afterwards usually). While the kiddos and I waited in the Beast for him to return, man walked in front of our car and over to his... and this is the conversation from the back of the car:

Bobcat: That man has girl hair! Mommy why does that man have girl hair?
Momma: Um... crackin' up laughin'... still laughin'!
Bubba: Hmmm, well, I guess he kind of looks like Jesus, sort of.
Momma: Haaaa ha hh haaaaaa hahhaaaaaa.
Bobcat: Well, I guess some men have girl hair, and men have MAN hair.
Bubba: Yeah?!

He did have girl hair...

A Saturday for Mom

So what did you do today??

Ooooh, pick me, pick me, pick me...

I went to a scrapbook convention!!! I don't know if it is the smell of ink in the air, or what, but that place was rockinly cool. And thanks to Daddio, it was just a girls day... my Mom and I... spent the better part of the day walking, scoping out, and calculating what we needed the most (well, lets face it, we NEEDED everything... but what could we actually have is a totally different story).

I walked away with a pretty sweet bag of loot! And of course moments after the boys were put to bed I broke that stuff out... (I'm currently taking a short break... to look up one of the vendors online to figure out what else I need from them).

My gift in return to Daddio... he is going to the Motor Speedway with a friend to catch an IndyCar Race for the evening.

Give and take... that's what marriage is all about, baby!

Ewwww....

What's that smell? Oh, right... sometimes I forget that I have three boys... and that smell is THEM! Yikes!

Directions: Soak in soapy water for 15 minutes to remove the funk! Adjust time for varied levels of funkiness. :-)

Love and Logic Moment

This morning I went to get Bobcat and Bubba out of bed for the morning, and upon walking into their room... onto the carpet I noticed a wet and kind of gree-zzzzzy feeling to it. After about a 10 minute finger pointing session I finally found out what was on the floor.... let's see, Bobcat was hanging over the railing of his upper bunk spitting (did I mention I didn't have socks or shoes on... just bare feet), and Bubba got out of bed and got the lotion we keep in there and put some on his hands and then moved on to smearing it on the carpets! Nice.

After a few VERY deep breaths on my part, I walked away, fixed breakfast for Snookie (the other two just sat in the room till I could come up with what to do with them next), and once calm called Daddio for advice. You know, that man is so smart and level headed... he reminded me that this was one of the Love and Logic moments!!!

So what did I tell the boys:
"I called Daddy and let him know about the situation. We need some time to come up with the appropriate action for this. Don't you worry about it now, we will deal with this when Daddy comes home tonight."

Oh... oooooooooooooo, the agony in such a statement... they lost their freakin' marbles. It was actually pretty funny.

The joys of parenting BOYS!

**Some of you may recall a incident I wrote about in May of 2005. Bobcat decided during a time away from the boys (alone play in his room for poor attitude with brothers) that he would take the sun screen and spread it on the carpet in there! Not only did he spread it on the carpet, but all over himself (clothes included)... and face. Then he got caught, cried, rubbed his face, got sunscreen in his eyes... and continued to wail from the agony of being caught and the burning sensation of his eyeballs! S - M - R - T!

Down Memory Lane

Talking about our high school reunion got me to thinking about the past. I mentioned in the meme about the house I grew up in. I was here from 1979 - 1989.

This is a picture taken last spring (2006) when we went down to La. for a family funeral. I wanted Daddio and the kids to see where I lived, the kind of street I lived on, the school I went to, that sort of thing.

My parents purchased this when they got married, this is the house they brought me home to from the hospital, this is the yard that my dad fell from the tree and became paralyzed, this the home we left when my dad accepted a job in the Lone Star State after he completed college.

It looks different now, when we lived there it was white with brown trim (very 70's)... I have to say that whom ever chose this color scheme did a great job. I think it suits this little house quite well. And the little flower planter outside the living room window is a cute touch!

Before the above mentioned trip, when in town I would go by and look, see if they were keeping up the property that sort of thing... but I hardly ever got sentimental over it. This trip was different, this trip I had my children with me, this trip I thought about being a child in this house, I could see (in my minds eye) my bunkbed near the front window in the room my sister and I shared, our little boat next to the house, my dad's new truck before the accident, being on the back porch when my dad fell, the ambulance, the months of him not being there and the weekend trips to Houston to visit, walking to school, visiting my extended family EVERY WEEKEND in the country, and the last time I saw all my friends before we came here. This time it was a place that held my fondest and most feared memories, not just some place I once lived.

I've lived in two homes growing (before marriage)... this one, and then the one we lived in after we moved to Texas. This little house, on this quiet street, in this little neighborhood, in what was a small town, where we were always surrounded with family... this is the house I grew up in.

8 more wierd things

Since I was tagged, here are eight wierd things about my wife. (That was the idea, right? You don't need to know about me, I'm just the guest blogger.)

8) She learned a lot of wrong lyrics to songs as a kid. Every few months I catch a new one and try not to laugh while she has an epiphany. (For example, "Karma Chameleon".)

7) Will not drink off-brand soda. "Dr. Thunder" is not close enough.

6) She has an insanely powerful grip.

5) She does very well on the grocery budget and other spending. But, when she has a gift certificate or cash that is just for her, she cannot go much more than 24 hours without shopping. She's way too excited and wants to redeem it for a new toy ASAP!

4) Height = five feet, one &1/4 inches. Do NOT forget the 1/4, it is very important!

3) Never turns on the light over the stove. Prefers to cook in the shadows.

2) Used to be a bit messy before we were married. Hard to believe, given that she is bordering on obsessive/compulsive with the vacuuming now.

1) Wears a veil to Mass. I know that's not really weird, but it is fairly uncommon these days. She typically prefers to blend into the crowd, but when she is convinced that something is right for her, she is undeterred.

10 year reunion

This past weekend was our 10 high school reunion. Daddio and I both graduated from the same school at the same time!


We chose not to go for several reasons...
-Rediculous ticket price for the Saturday event, which was held at a bar downtown... which really isn't our scene.
-The family day was on Sunday, cost money per person, and you had to bring your own food.
-Most people that we had friendships with, we are still in contact with on a regular basis... so we don't need to do/pay for something special right now in order to see them.


That being said... it feels weird that it has been 10 years. Oh, and something interesting... Daddio's little sister graduated from high school this year... that makes me feel old!


For reunion's sake, here is a snap shot of Daddio and I on our way to our Senior Trip:

Yeah, I know... we were so cool!

8 Random Things

For this meme, each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

This is my first tagged meme... and it is kind of a tough one! I will do my best, but I'm gonna make a prediction... Daddio will leave a list of his own about my habits 'cause lets face it, he knows me better than me most of the time. So in no particular order here they go:

1. I really don't like thunder/lightening storms. During the daytime I'm okay, but if they are at night I usually tuck my head under the covers... seriously, at 28 years old this is still an issue for me! Yikes.
2. The house I grew up in, in La. was more than 100 years old. No one was real sure the exact age because the court house burned down with the orginal records stored inside.
3. I can't stand mice/rats (oh, and little frogs too). The sight of them gives me the willies... just having to type about it makes me feel a little ill.
4. At night when I have to go to the bathroom, I will jump from the bed... run to our bathroom, finish... dash back to near the bed and leap back in. I'm not crazy about the dark, but I don't want to turn lights on either (no need to alert the burglars that I'm moving around :-). I know, poor Daddio... but he is a deep sleeper so it's okay.
5. I really enjoy home improvement projects... especially when I'm bored and left to my own devices for too long, much like Matilda (like when Daddio is away on business...). There have been occasions that Daddio has come home to rooms being repainted, furniture moved... that sort of thing. I can be super industrious, even for my smallness!
6. A nice cold Dr. Pepper or bowl of ice cream will solve all my troubles. Unfortunately those are on the no-no list so they are hardly ever found around here... oh, but my new fav. ice cream: Ben & Jerry's Half Baked (Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough together, seriously you guys are FANTASTIC).
7. I'm shy and SUPER NERVOUS. I know some of you are thinking that I'm lying, but a group of people that I don't know, or don't know well, and speaking in front of people scares me to death. My heart races, and I stutter... sometimes just inside my head, but it takes a huge effort for me to do it and sound like I know what I'm doing. (And forget about reading in front of people... you would swear that I just got out of first grade.) I have to spend days preparing so that what I'm going to say is completely committed to memory-- that's why I am so worn out afterwards, and usually end up with a migraine. It is taxing.
8. I like peanuts, pecans... nuts, but not on my sundae. Daddio always makes fun of me for the way I like things. Apparently I like most things, but the ordinary way most people like combination foods, I don't... I rather just eat them separate. He can add to this particular one, because I can't name them off the top of my head... I just know when it comes time to order/eat them.

Now... as far as tagging... I'm not sure I know 8 other people who haven't been tagged already! So if you read this and haven't been tagged... consider yourself tagged! Here are the few that I will tag:

Daddio, Just Stuff, Infertility Is Funny, Jen at Be Good. Have Fun.

Okay that's all I can think of right now!

My two cents

Thought I'd add my two cents on housework. Here are three keys to keeping our house relatively clean.

1) It never gets hopelessly messy because we spend a little time each day straightening up, instead of saving a huge list of chores for the weekend. It's easy to give up when it seems too huge a task.

2) Get organized. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

3) I think the single most important thing is to have the kids do as much as they can. The boys are required to:
-put away their toys before every meal. I can't even remember the last time I had to tell someone to put away their toys. They know the rule, don't even come to the table until your toys are up and your hands are washed.
-put their dirty dishes in the sink
-throw away their trash
-feed the dogs
-let the dogs outside to go potty (this seems like a small thing, but Daisy wants to go out 200 times a day, and that gets annoying!)
-put the dogs in their kennels when we're getting ready to leave the house
-clean baseboards and the A/C vent with wet rags
-put their dirty clothes in the laundry room
-put their clean clothes in their dresser and closet (after an adult has folded it for them)
-pick out their own clothes and get dressed (who cares if they look weird?)

Speaking of clothes, we've found that hanging all shirts, even t-shirts, in the closet is much easier than putting them in the dresser. It arose out of necessity because the one dresser in the boys' room is not really big enough. We put a 48" shelf/hanger bar in their closet, low enough for the boys to reach. They can put shirts on hangers by themselves, and they can see and reach what's in there. And we don't have to fold shirts at all.

The next job I'll teach them is poop scooping in the back yard! Can't wait to pawn that one off on somebody else!

When we first became parents, MamaLlama did everything for them. Most of the time, it is easier and faster to just do it yourself. But all these little things add up and save Mom a lot of time and frustration, plus they teach the boys to be neat and organized, and to be contributors to the family.

What do I do?!

I been asked a few times in my course so far of mothering and house wifery how I do what I do as far ask keeping the house and all that jazz. So I thought I would take a few minutes do give kind of a run through of what I do!

The first thing I do in the morning is make the bed! For me, if making the bed is the only cleaning I do in the day... well, I can still feel accomplished. Why? Because it showed me that I got out of bed and didn't plan on hanging out in it till the end of the day. Plus as an added bonus I love folding clothes on a made bed.... there's plenty of room and you can see what you are working with!

Then comes getting the kiddos up and fed around 7:30 - 8:00. Once breakfast is done, the dishes go right into the dishwasher. Usually while the kids are eating I take out the clean dishes from the dishwasher, so that their breakfast items can go right in. I don't like having dishes pile up in the sink... while it has been known to happen, I don't like it and am usually quick to take care of it when the moment presents itself! Now that Bobcat is older, he is learning how to load it. He can't reach things in the sink, but he will clear the table and place things in the dishwasher! Like the FlyLady says... every thing is always better with a nice shiney sink!

Also, I don't like clutter on my counters... so when ever a meal is finished, everything is cleaned... nothing is left out! Everything has its place!!!!

Once the kitchen has been picked up from breakfast, and while the boys are still finishing up I take a few minutes to get laundry going. I don't always do laundry every day. Probably 4 days a week, and sometimes on Saturday if we've done yard work... I don't like sweaty clothes to just sit in there and smelly everything up! And while I'm in there I will make sure everything is tidied up. Daddio was nice enough to install a set of cabinets (above my machines) last year, and we put in that shelf when we got the new machines, and behind the door there are a set of hanging baskets! This way there is plenty of storage for all my odds and ends and things don't have to be left sitting out!

Next it is time for school (or Mass then school depending on the day). Depending on the work for that day, I either sit the entire time with the boys, or if I'm able to leave them to work independently I head off to the laundry and get a load folded and ready for them to put away. Otherwise I fold the laundry done that morning once school is done... and the boys will come and put their own things away. I'm not perfect (by any stretch), so there are times when clean clothes my spend some time in a basket in my room till I'm ready to tackle it (even with the new machines, laundry is still one of my least favorite tasks).

That takes us up to lunch and naptime... PAPER PLATES! If I can feed the kids on paper... I DO... so I don't have to do as many dishes! And then they are down for a 2 hour nap. During nap time am able to clean bathrooms(Tuesdays and Fridays), mop the floors (once or twice a week), finish up any more laundry (specialty stuff like sheets and towels on Thursdays or Fridays) that I want to get done for the day, eat my own lunch, cook dinner, and depending on the weather and I can even get yard work done! Oh, and check email, read blogs, and blog myself.

Let me introduce you to my little friend! I call him Purpie (uh... cause he purple)... and I LURVE HIM!!!! After nap time (around 3 - 3:30) I vacuum. (I've already swept the hard surfaces into the carpeted area so that can just be vacuumed up). And vacuuming usually happens everyday around here!

Now, you might be asking yourself why I vacuum everyday... meet reasons 1 & 2:

Maggie (part Pom and Australian Sheperd) and Daisy (100% beagle):

Dog FUR!

Now, during most of this cleaning someone is usually with me... one of the boys that is. Playing with toys near my feet, helping with folding, reading me stories, helping me cook stuff that couldn't be done ahead of time... I try to make the most out of nap time working as quickly and efficently as possible so that I am nearly done when the boys are up, and during the time they are up and I'm cleaning it is happening in between play sessions with the boys.

There are days things don't go according to a tidy schedule, and Daddio will come home to laundry still piled on the bed, or me still vacuuming with Snookie hanging on to my leg. But at the end of the day I'm a happy mom when I have a clean house, and I know that Daddio likes to come home to a clean house.

I happen to be one of those people who likes a certain amount of control and order, and over the years I've found that life is crazy, child rearing is messy, homeschooling can be chaotic... but a clean and orderly home gives me order and a sense of clarity! Cleaning calms my nerves, and actually makes me a better person!

So there you have it! Throw in grocery shopping on Fridays and you pretty much have what we do, playing in the rain in the front yard, making bed forts, sitting on Mommy's back while I read and you play, making up songs... and some sort of music always on... that's my day till Daddio returns home from a day at the office!

First Summer Swimming

Last night we met up with some friends at their neighborhood pool for our first outdoor swimming of the season. While it was way fun to be back in the pool (which we lived in last summer), um, well it has rained every day around here for like the last 3-4 weeks... EVERY DAY... and been unseasonably cool. So the water, um, not so warm!

COLD!!!! Actually, the water was freakin' COLD! And while I have body fat to keep me somewhat insulated, my kids do not. Poor little Snookie was shiverin' and quiverin'! So our pool fun only lasted about an hour before our grand exit and pizza finale!

Another Successful Meeting

This morning, after Mass, several moms from our homeschooling group sat down with me and their calendars to map out the coming school year. We discussed everything from field trip schedules, our potlucks, more Mom's Night Outs, co-ops... the list goes on and on. It was about having other moms step up and fill these roles themselves... not me or the two other ladies who formed this group continue taking on that role, and everyone stepped up to that challenge in one way or another.

While we are still a new group (we just got started in February), I see great things happening... and great friendships being forged between the parents and children... and for me that actually is the most important part!

Oh, and we are starting a Blue Knights group! I am so excited, all three boys will be old enough (ages 5-11, so Snookie will just sneak in with his August birthday)! One of the projects for year one is building a suit of armor, seriously, how cool is that! Plus, it is for dads and sons... do I hear a night at home quietly attending to some me time... laundry, toilets, heck maybe even some reading!!!! Boy, and having them all schooling next term... I will definitely need a little quiet time at the end of the week (meetings are on Fridays once a month)!